Well, thanks to all for their advice! I'll probably keep the XJR, and if I stumble across the right XK8 at the right time....

 

I really like the XJR and consider buying one. But XKR is what I enjoy.

 

Still thinking about an XJR

 

If you drop back to the 1998-2003 years, you might be very surprised.

Dimension wise, it is basically a long, low sports tourer with four doors. The non-US XJR are even lower by about a half inch or so. Starting in 2004 the height jumps by several inches.

If someone gave you the engine specs, layout specs, and claimed performance on paper but left out the body style ... you would conclude that it is a a performance car.

The contemporary motor press of the time usually pitted it against the BMW M5 and called it a draw, or close win.

Looking at a BMW 850ci, beautiful nose, a foot shorter, nice cabin, similar height ... down on power.

Looking at a Porsche Boxster, beautiful car, shorter, nice cabin, similar height ... *way* down on power.

And the list goes on. Even the X300 V-12 is down on power.

There are very few cars with the same level of power, handling, braking and low height with four doors.

The design goal of the X308 R was "the fastest 4 door sedan in the world ... period". Bear in mind that was 1998. But unless unlimited speed highways were introduced when no one was looking, it's still good enough.

Everything you know about the XKR still applies ... except you have child safety locks on the rear doors

It is however, a psychologically wide car. Look at the specs and you can say, if the nose can get through, the tail will follow. But, that's an awfully wide hood from the driver's seat when your paint is pristine. The numbers can be deceiving because most of the width numbers do not include the mirrors. The leaper really helps in close traffic

Now, if it had a Getrag 5 speed and LSD it would be perfect.

 

Thinking about the XJR X350 Body

 

Iam 6'3 too and I have driven both of them but I can't seem to shake that feel when iam in my 2003 XKR SilverStone the way people look and acknowledge how sexy & evil it looks lol. This is my second Jaguar my first one was a 1999 xk8 in silver I fell in love the only reason I ever brought one is because I rented a 2006 bentley continental GT love it and started looking for a vehicle that was very similar in interior and honestly the jaguar XK family 1996 through 2006 were the only cars that were similar and at half the price and still a very good and reliable cars so XK for life!

 

Almost 2 years ago I bought a 2000 XKR. Love it! Thought it was fast until I bought a 1998 XJR. Both are introductory year supercharged 4.0 liter cars. But the 4 door is WAY faster than the convertible. I was going to check the ECU on the XJR to see if it was chipped. But then I was talking to Dan Jensen, the President of the San Diego Jaguar Club. He said he owned both and reaffirmed that the XJR is a much faster car. Strange since they have identical powertrains. I'm toying with the idea of swapping ECU's to see what happens. Any thoughts?